World Breastfeeding Week, Day 7:
So it’s the last day of World Breastfeeding Week. If you missed it here on Mommies with Style, be sure to take a look on this page, in our “Feeding section and other various parts of the site to see some of the great breastfeeding-related features we did over the course of the past week.
There are many outstanding breastfeeding products out there, and we couldn’t certainly feature them all but hopefully you found something helpful this week.
So for our last day: breast pumps. I’m definitely not an expert on pumps, but thought it would be remiss not to mention them this week.
Here’s what I do know: before you buy one, it’s important to figure out how much you’ll be pumping. If you’re returning to work and will need to pump all day, you’re going to need a heavy duty pump. I was the occasional pumper – I used the Medela Single Deluxe Electric Pump. I pumped once a day at most – mostly only once every few days – so I didn’t need anything big time. It was just fine for what I needed, although often I mooned over the Medela Pump In Style as having two pumps going at once would have been nice.
Others that have been reviewed here on Mommies with Style include: Nancy’s favorite, the Medela Freestyle. Ciaran’s been using the Swing Pump from Medela.
The bottom line is that you need to ask questions, do some research and figure out what is right for you. Nursing Mother Supplies has a wide selection of breast pumps – you can read their FAQ to help determine what’s right for you and you can use coupon code MWS10 to receive 10% off if you order on their site.
What pump did you use? Did you like it? What would you recommend? Leave us a comment so others can learn from your experience!
07
Aug 2008
Picking a breast pump
By 4 Comments
I used the Avent handheld for my first son since I stayed at home and would be nursing exclusively. This pump was terrible!
For my 2nd son I rented the Medela Lactina from a lactation nurse and it was wonderful! This is a hospital grade pump which is safe to share between users as there is no potential for the milk to back up in to the motor – you just buy your own tubing and bottles. It worked sooooo well, esp in the beginning when I was so engorged and my son couldn’t nurse. I ended up buying a used one and used it for 1 year while staying at home. I nursed exclusively, but I pumped in between for using the milk for mixing with cereal and occassional outings or when I would have that glass of wine and didn’t want to nurse.
Now with my 3rd son, I am going to be using the Medela Lactina Select – same hospital grade pump, but has an additional dial on it for suction power. The best thing about this pump is that you can resell it or buy it safely used. You can actually buy it used on Ebay and then sell it for the same price – it’s like being able to use the best pump for free, while if you buy the Pump in Style – you spend $299 and can’t resell it.
I used the Medela Pump in Style Advanced and loved it. I returned to work when my daughter was 3 month old so I did a lot of pumping. Luckily I had a lot of milk and she did not have formula until she was over 10 month old. I also bought the hands free kit from Medela but did not like it at all. I ended up not using it. I felt that I was not getting enough suction if I used the hands free hit.
I used the Ameda Purely Yours on a recommendation of a friend, and loved it! It is less expensive than the Medela and still worked great. I am a full time working mom, and exclusively breast fed my first child for 9 months. That meant pumping twice a day at work, storing milk, and taking home to use the next day for approximately 7 months.
This pump is nice and small, comes with a great carrying bag, and even though it doesn’t look like it would pump into any bottle, I was able to easily twist on my Avent bottles and pump directly into them.
It also comes with a small cooler bag with freezer inserts, so I can keep breast milk in the fridge at work without scaring the male colleagues. Everyone just thought it was my lunch bag!
I would also recommend the car adapter. The two or three times I used it were practically emergencies (or situations with no alternative), and it sure beats a hand pump (I never found one that didn’t take forever). Make sure to keep a swaddling blanket or hooter-hider in the car to cover up, though, I had to park in the back corner of a parking deck once and just hope no one walked by!
I’ve used the product coming form Simple Wishes. It was totally great the comfort of it was perfect. This is what I’m looking for a pumping bra. It really answers all for a pumping bra for me.
Simple Wishes is my companion of taking care of my daughter.
– Camille Jude